Tagg Romney says of father Mitt: 'He gets the job done'

Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan don’t need to just win the central Pennsylvania vote Tuesday, they need to win big to carry the state.

That’s what Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley told a crowd of Romney supporters tonight, minutes before he introduced the presidential hopeful’s son Tagg Romney during a campaign event at Bass Pro Shops at the Harrisburg Mall.

A flurry of scheduled appearances by the Romney/Ryan ticket in the next five days in Pennsylvania lends credence to that notion and indicates the GOP believe they have a good shot at winning a state that has backed Democrats in recent presidential elections.

Four years ago, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden along with Republican presidential nominee John McCain and vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin visited the Keystone State many times. This time around, none of the candidates have made appearances in the Harrisburg area since the May primary.

G. Terry Madonna, a Franklin & Marshall College political scientist and pollster, said the Republicans likely need Pennsylvania or Ohio to win the election. And with some polls showing narrow margins in the state, the Republicans are trying to seize the opportunity to win, he said.

“They’re looking at Pennsylvania and thinking, ‘If somehow, some way,” Madonna said. “They’re in the red zone and they just need to get into the end zone, but if they don’t win PA or Ohio, the path to the presidency is almost impossible to reach.”

Vice-presidential nominee Ryan will make a campaign stop at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Harrisburg International Airport in Lower Swatara Twp.

Mitt Romney will campaign in the Philadelphia area on Sunday, according to numerous media reports. The appearance would come shortly after his campaign began airing ads in Pennsylvania.

President Barack Obama holds a slim lead over Romney in Pennsylvania, according to Franklin & Marshall College’s final poll before Election Day.

The poll, released Wednesday, found Obama edging Romney 49 percent to 45 percent among likely voters, with 4 percent undecided.

But Obama’s lead in Pennsylvania has narrowed. In September, the F&M poll showed Obama leading Romney, 52 percent to 43 percent, with 3 percent undecided.

Speaking to more than a hundred supporters at Bass Pro, Tagg Romney told the crowd he believes his father will do everything in his power to get Americans back to work, promote clean coal, natural gas and oil and grow the economy.

“He gets the job done,” Tagg Romney said of his father. “Over and over again, he has delivered results.”

— Staff Writer Robert J. Vickers and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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